VOL.6, NO. 10
N O R ~ AAND L TEACHERS' COLLEGE ESSAYS
1697
CHEMISTRY IN RELATION TO NATIONAL DEFENSE* In its short existence as a real science, chemistry has manifested itself in all fields of human endeavor; it has revolutionized human civilization, and opened up great fields in which the chemist can expend his energy both in times of peace and in times of war. Already, chemistry has come to be a tremendous force and the heights to which it may raise our civilization in the future can hardly he imagined. From the innumerable branches of this invaluable science, I shall choose one in connection with which I hope to set v an imforth a few of the reasons whv chemistm has laved and will ~ l a such portant part in the history of the world. Therefore, while the great World War with its multitudes of horrors is still fresh in our minds, and since the results which it produced are so outstanding today, I think that chemistry in its relation to war will he a pertinent and timely subject. Through all the ages, war has been the contest of the resources of one nation with those of another, and the nation with the most effective resources a t hand was the victor. Long ago, hand-to-hand combats, brilliant artifices, and the force of human strength, served to settle affairs among enemies. Even then, the battle ax, sword, projectile, and cross-bow, used in turn hv the ancients. depended upon chemistry for their maCONNSK ELVEKE terials. During the past twenty-three hundred years, history tells us that gas was used a t various times. Probahlythe first records are those ofthe Chinese and later the Japanese whose odorous gases and b e l y ground pepper were the forerunners of the modem lachryrnatory gases. Then history tells us that gas was used by the Athenians and the Spartans as early as 431 B. C., and "Greek Fie," used against the Saracens in 673 A. D., was in turn employed against the Christians during the Crusades. Later on, the British used sulfur and coke during the Crimean War, but decided that this means of combat was too horrible to be honorable. Therefore, they did away with this process of warfare, and left chemical warfare to be introduced by the Yankees during the
* Prize-winning normal-school and
ternhers' college essay, 192G29.
Civil War, when they shelled the city of Charleston in 1863. Such means of warfare have not been without protest on the grounds of cowardice and inhumanity, but so effective have they been that it is impossible to prevent their use in some way or another. The Peace Conference a t The Hague in 1889 condemned the use of poisonous gas as against the laws of civilization, and the leading powers of Europe signed an agreement against it. Germany, however, in 1915, demonstrated that gases could be used in ways which did not violate the treaty in words, although they did misinterpret the spirit, and from that time on, gas came more into use. While the chemist had a part in the perfection of ordnance and in obtaining such precision in the rate of burning powder as to make possible the introduction of new military tactics, it remained for the use of gases, such as chlorine and bromine, recognized as chemical substances, to truly introduce the term "poisonous gas" and the designation "Chemical Warfare." Reference must be made to the poison gases which developed from the forms of gases mentioned previously as used by the ancients, and which did such dreadful havoc on the battle fields of France. When Germany first introduced her corrosive gases, chlorine and bromine, the ingenuity of the chemists all over the world wasimmediately taxed to develop this deadly warfare. Here again was an emergency which called forth the minds of the chemists to quickly devise ways and means of large scale preparation, and of shipping and loading such dangerous substances. Moreover, mustard gas and arsenic compounds were ingeniously developed, along with many oJher fatal artifices. It is evident that if the war had continued longer the powers engaged would have drenched each other in poisonous gases, but by the sudden close in 1918 the world was saved from the destruction which would have been the inevitable result. Instantaneously the use of gas called for new types of absorbents with which to perfect the gas masks, and this call was met by the chemists who employed their skill in mixing charcoal with soda lime and other absorbent chemicals to place in the breathing tanks of the gas masks and thus save the men on the battle front. Then tear gases, which render the subject unfit for military duties, and sneeze gases, which bring on violent fits of sneezing, were employed. In addition there should he mentioned the safe non-toxic screen smokes ejected from airplane, thrown by hand or fired from rifles, and smoke candles. These materials were used to blind the enemy by reducing visibility, to obscure troops, to render battleships inactive, and to protect troops from fire. The greatest use of weapons of chemical warfare is in the fact that gas will penetrate protected positions and drive out the enemy from hiding places which cannot be reached by shell. The chief requisite of poisonous gases are nitrates, potash, and phosphates, and since these are chiefly found in foreign lands, the American
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1699
chemist again is faced with the problem of accessibility and large-scale economical production which could be practical both in peace and in war. As a result of chemical inventive genius gas tactics became the main strength of the war and gas became a standard weapon for certain purposes. Shell gas was used for the neutralization of batteries, roads, and areas, and cloud gas was used to produce untold tragedies. The former which was made from brominated and chlorinated organic compounds and from salts of dianisidine, caused intense irritation and served to check the armies until Germany realized her need of still more effective weapons and manufactured lachrymators, crude brominated xylene or brominated ketones, which caused temporary blindness. These gases kept the troops out of the places where the gas penetrated and thus frustrated a great many plans. In the meanwhile, Germany had been seeking to regain the cloud'gas initiative. Consequently, a mixture of phosgene and chlorine in a very high concentration was introduced as a cloud gas. Many casualties in the form of sudden collapses among the soldiers resulted and oftentimes fatal effects were produced. Green Cross, containing diphosgene, Yellow Cross, containing mustard gas, and Blue Cross, containing diphenyl-chlorarsine, were successfully used one after another. The mustard gas produced severe blisterings and skin wounds, while Blue Cross was a deliberate attempt to pierce the respirator. Later particulate clouds, combined smoke and lethal gases, were introduced with the object of piercing all respirators whatsoever, but, fortunately for the allies, these objectivks were neverattained. There are twenty-five or more gases which Germany used and from the few mentioned here we see the importance of protective preparedness and manufacturing capacity in order that a country might gain the advantage in the use of gases. This gradual introduction of chemistry into war has taken chivalry out of warfaredrains have taken the place of brawn; war is fought out in laboratories and in chemists' minds, and the glory which war brings to its heroes is fundamentally due to the chemists, for it was the latter who discovered the high explosives and the new steel to withstand the force of such explosives. Thus, when the World War broke out we scarcely realized that a new era of modern warfare had begun and that chemistry was to play such an important part in the conflict. However, the results of the war have awakened a deep interest in the leaders of our nation. They have come to realize that the development of our civilization is a result of chemical research, and that the future of our country and the maintenance of our national defense depends upon the further development of chemistry. Thus it is obvious that the victories of future wars will be awarded those countries whose chemical monopolies and genius surpass all others. It is our duty, therefore, to awaken to the utmost the interest of our people in the value of chemistry, and to judiciously expend our natural
resources, for those of our country are practically inexhaustible. Our resources are greater than those of any other great power; the ingenuity of our chemists is likewise unsurpassed, and our merchant marine can compete with that of any other country in the supremacy for world trade. Until recently our interest in chemical development has been insufficient. We have allowed other nations to profit by the indifferenceof our public to the products of chemical development, but there is still need for our nation to realize more fully its situation and to save herself by such legislation so as to render another horrible conflictunnecessary. This idea can be carried out through the development of industries which are valuable assets to our country in time of peace and which can easily be made into valuable implements of war in case of emergency. Such industries will attract the genius of our chemists, and through our own resources make our country independent of other nations and therefore break up any monopoly which other nations hold. Today the manufacture of modern explosives is essentially a chemical industry founded upon the most careful research and supervised in all departments by highly trained and experienced technical men. Picric acid and guncotton form the basis of modem smokeless powder and dynamite, while T. N. T.and other nitrated bodies came into their greatest use during the World War. Prior to that smokeless powder took first place among military explosives. Amotol is another World War product and benzine, a by-product of the coke and gas industry, is also an important raw material. In the manufacture of these explosives &here are many diicult chemical problems-prevention against corrosion, safeguarding against hazards, to say nothing of the manufacture itself. Furthermore, without fixed nitrogen in great abundance nations could not wage war upon one another under modem conditions. Gunpowder is probably the first recorded use of chemical substances mixed together for military explosives, and ever since it replaced the how and arrow this form of nitrogen has been used in the making of explosives. Fixed nitrogen is used because it has an extraordinary power to break down into new combinations, absorbing and giving out enormous energy as in the case of high explosives. It is this underlying chemical fact that has been responsible for the dreadful slaughter and destruction of recent wars. Dynamite, guncotton, picric acid, and nitro gelatin are all nitrogen-combined substances, fixed so that they will not explode prematurely. Picric acid, one of the most deadly of high explosives, was made into tons of mixtures and shot off on the European battlefields. When these mixtures are shattered into elements, large quantities of hot nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms are instantly set free, seeking to expand and satisfy their various affinities. Death and destruction are the consequences when such destroying forces are scattered. Chemistry has made other contributions to the art of war beside those
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NORMAL AND TEACHERS' COLLEGE ESSAYS
1701
comprised in the coal-tar industries and nitrogen fixation. The World War was attended by the discovery and introduction of more new theories, facts, innovations, and mechanical devices than have ever before been produced in any era of history. There is work for the physiological chemist,the pharmacologist, and others who must determine the chemical reaction of poison gases when they reach the body, so that they may design methods of treatment. Some of the gases penetrate the skin, are absorbed by the blood, and cause serious trouble. Consequently, man must use his intelligence in self-defense. And the fact that knowledge of the gases and smokes enables man to devise efficient methods for self-defense, which he cannot do in the case of shell and shot, gives him ample opportunity for self-protection in the case of chemical warfare. One of the greatest results of the recent conflict is progress in aviation. It is obvious that new alloys, or their new use, is involved in obtaining the utmost horsepower with light weight in airplane engines and that the lightest metals consistent with strength are needed not only in airplanes but also in dirigibles. Chemistry made an important contribution to the propellors of aircraft by providing an adhesive, waterproof, dependable, and strong varnish with which could be built up the laminated wood of the propellors. Then it has also suggested how these might be protected from the erosion caused by the rapidly passing air. Special types of chemically controlled fuels are demanded. The question of balloon fabric and what to put in the bag is also of great importance. Chemistry began research to learn how to get helium in sufficient quantities from natnrd gas wells in Texas and Oklahoma for military purposes, and this production of helium has brought about a condition of constantly reducing cost. Aviation required the crucial test of the World War to stabilize it. Luckily, however, war is not the only use in which aviation is important, for i t promises to become an important means of commercial transit. The importance of chemistry in its relation to war becomes emphasized in the necessity to increase food supplies and production, to find domestic materials to replace those formerly imported, and to conduct industry generally a t a high efficiencyand a t great pressure. Under the stimulus of rising prices, it became economical to recover many things from wastes which had been of no commercial value in normal times. Synthetic organic chemistry was called upon to do in five or six years what those specialists in other countries had done in a generation. There had to be antiseptics, anesthetics, sedatives, and germicides in unprecedented quantities and of the newest synthetic types. These things, however, areneededalso at other times and go to show that chemistry works just as effectively in peace as in war; but its relation to national defense in the instances I have cited merely SeNeS to emphasize its importance as a fundamental science, and to show the vast importance of our nation's awakening to the fact that the chemists
who are so often blamed for the horrors of war are inevitably drawn into the conflict through the results of their peace-time activities. Nevertheless, the abundance of our national resources still call the chemist and when America realizes altogether the absolute necessity of her dependence on chemistry for national defense, and develops industries which will serve her in peace as well as in war, she can be assured, if the necessity again arises, that the products of peace will reap victories in war. Bibliography THISJOURNAL, 5, NOS.8 and 9 (1925). Howe, H. E., "Chemistry in the World's Work," D. Van Nostrand Co., New York City, 1926. Cushman, Allerton S.. "Chemistry and Civilization," Chapter 4, E. P. Dutton and Co., New York City, 1925. "General Chemistry," Smith-Kendall, pp. 418-9, 519-21, The Century Co., New York City. Howe, H. E., Editor, "Chemistry in Industry," Chapter4, Volume 1, 1924; Chapter 2, 9, Volume 2; The Chemical Foundation, Inc., New York City, 1925. Findlay, Alex., "Chemistry in the Service of Man." Chapter 6, Longmans, Green and Co., New York City. Lefebure, Victor, "The Riddle of the Rhine," The Chemical Foundation, Inc., New York City, 1923.
Dried Fruits Prevent Scurvy. Dried fruits which have been treated with sulfur dioxide gas maintain their vitamin C content, and therefore their ability t o prevent scurvy, according to a study t o be reported in+ihe Journal of Biological Chemistry, by Agnes Fay Morgan and Anna Field of the University of California, Berkeley. The same fruits dried and not subjected t o the sulfur dioxide treatment lose their vitamin value. Fruits and vegetables are known t o contain vitamin C, and it has been conridered that these faods must he fresh when used to prevent scurvy. Since the danger of scurvy is greatest under circumstances where an adequate supply of fresh vegetahles and fruits is most difficult t o obtain, much interest has been shown in the effect of methods of preservation upon the vitamin C content of foods. Numerous studies have been made upon citrus fruit juices, cabbage, milk, potatws, and tomatoes. Apparently the more acid foods, such as citrus fruits and tomatoes, are not only more richly endowed with vitamin C, hut are also better able to resist destruction of this vitamin by drying or processing. Because of the inconsistency in previously reported work by other experimenters, and because of the economic importance of the ~ m m o n l yused dried fruits, the experimenters used peaches as the basis far their work. Fresh, completely ripe peaches were used. They were picked, pitted, and ground in a food chopper. Some of the hatch was sun-dried and some dried in dehydrators. Part of the dried hatch was submitted to the action of sulfur dioxide over night. Then feeding experiments were made using guinea pigs. I t was found that the sulfured fruit retains the full vitamin C content of the fresh fruit, hut the unsulfured dry fruit retained no detectable amount of this vitamin. The sulfured, dried peaches were found to rank with orange juice, raw tomatoes, and other highly potent antiscorbutic foods.-Scircience Semire
